Mailers who send out large volumes of mail are increasingly seeking ways of processing mail that would allow the mailer to receive a maximum postage discount from the postal service, obtain optimum postal routing and achieve reporting and tracking capability for their mail and receive a postal discount. Mailing systems are available that are capable of outputting high volumes of mail. These systems normally include an inserter for generating the mail piece, a scale for weighing each mail piece, and a computer that communicates with the scale for the purpose of determining postage.
Many schemes have been suggested in the past whereby mailers would be able to process their mail in a manner so as to obtain the postal discounts available from the postal service and reduce the amount of effort required by the postal service in processing the mail. These schemes have advanced the state of the art relative to achieving advantages for both the mailer and the postal service, but few schemes have directly correlated the zip code breaks and the amount of mail that is to be placed in a mail tray. By zip code breaks is meant the change in zip code from one portion of mail to another, whether it be a nine digit, five digit zip code or the first three digits of a zip code. Contemporary mail processors normally operate in a manner so that mail pieces going to the same zip code destination are processed sequentially. The zip code not only serves as a boundary of one mail portion to the next, but also allows a postal discount.
One qualification for obtaining a postage discount is related to the number of mail pieces addressed with the same zip code classification, assuming that such mail pieces are processed sequentially. Such zip code classification can either be zip code +4, five digit zip code or three digit zip code. The amount of postage discount available varies with the level of zip code classification, the greatest discount being for zip+4, then for five digit zip, and the least discount for the three digit classification. In order to achieve these postage discounts and increase the speed at which the mail is delivered, the mail trays must be arranged so that they contain appropriate quantities of mail for the various zip code designations, the quantities varying for each postage discount qualification. In addition, the trays must be sufficiently full to meet the postal service requirements.
One problem that arises in determining whether a mailer has achieved an appropriate number of mail pieces to obtain a zip code is that of invalid and non-readable mail pieces. An invalid mail piece is one in a mail stream which cannot be used in determining mail qualification. This can be caused by an incomplete or missing zip code, an incorrect address, a faulty weight, or a false reading of the zip code or address. A non-readable mail piece is one with an address or zip code that cannot be machine read. With prior systems, if such an event occurred, the mail piece count would start over upon the detection of an invalid or non-readable mail piece and the postal discount would drop to the next lower level even though that invalid or non-readable mail piece were the only one responsible for losing the higher discount.
Clearly, it would be advantageous to be able to maintain mail qualification despite the presence of invalid or non-readable mail pieces and correlate the processing of mail with the traying of the same based upon mail qualifications and the filing of mail pieces into mail trays.